Minorities and Communication 2006 Abstracts
Minorities and Communication Division
Faculty
Representation and Effects of the Portrayal of Women of Color in Mainstream Women’s Magazines • Juanita J. Covert, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Travis L. Dixon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • This research involved a content analysis of magazines in 1999 and 2004 and an experiment designed to examine the depiction of women of color in mainstream women’s magazines and the effect of counterstereotypical portrayals on readers. White women were overrepresented while Latina and Black women were underrepresented in magazine articles in 2004 compared to U.S. Census data, although not as much as in 1999. Representation of women of color as professionals also increased.
John Harold Johnson: Business Tycoon, Journalist & Publisher 1918-2005: Milestones and Secret of Success • Jerry Komia Domatob, Alcorn State University • This paper focused on John Harold Johnson, a foremost African American journalist, publisher and business executive and discussed the factors that accounted for his success. It highlighted his achievements from birth in 1918 to death in 2005. He founded EBONY and JET magazines, established the Johnson publishing company and initiated several business ventures. Although several reasons explained his success, this paper argued that strong family bonds, professional connections and relationships enabled Johnson to distinguish himself.
The Paradox of Market Segmentation: Examining the Presence of African American Depictions in Primetime Television Advertising • Karie Hollerbach, Southeast Missouri State University • Market segmentation made communication with the advertising audience predicated on the audience segment. African Americans were the first minority group identified as having economic viability as a target market that could be reached through advertising content and placement. A content analysis of 358 television advertisements for General and African American audiences revealed that African Americans are still playing a subordinate role, even in advertising targeted to them.
Others’ Disaster: How American Newspapers Covered Hurricane Katrina • Chul-joo Lee and Oscar H. Gandy, Jr., University of Pennsylvania • We aimed to examine the extent to which photojournalists and their editors conveyed biased and stereotypical images of Hurricane Katrina and its tragic human consequences. To this end, we compared the symbolic reality presented in published newspaper photographs with the objective reality of Hurricane Katrina. Our data came from all the photographs concerning Hurricane Katrina that were published in the New York Times and the Washington Post from August 30, 2005 to September 7, 2005.
A Comparison of Media Usage among Racial Groups in the United States • Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas (effective Aug. 2006) and H. Denis Wu, Louisiana State University and Ming Wang and Lingling Zhang, Washington State University • The topic of racial or ethnic differences in media usage has generated a number of studies in the past. Surprisingly, Asian Americans have been neglected by the existing literature, which is a void this research seeks to fill. Using two large national surveys from 2000 and 2004, this study provides an up-to-date report of the media habits of five racial groups in the United Sates.
From the Doctor’s Office to the Pulpit: Creating More Effective HIV/AIDS Messages for African Americans by Examining Source Credibility and Evidence Format • Lesa Hatley Major, Indiana University and Renita Coleman, University of Texas Austin, Texas • Using experimental methodology, this study determines if African Americans consider physicians or ministers as more credible to deliver HIV/AIDS prevention messages and explores what evidence format African-Americans choose as the most effective in delivering these messages. Findings include a significant interaction between the role of physician and the combined statistical/emotional format. This combination was rated as the most effective way to deliver HIV/AIDS prevention messages.
Objectivity and The Journalist’s Creed: Local coverage of Lucile Bluford’s fight to enter the Missouri School of Journalism • Earnest Perry and Aimee Edmondson, University of Missouri • This study looks at how the local mainstream press covered the attempted enrollment and subsequent legal fight that journalist Lucile Bluford waged against the University of Missouri, the birthplace of journalism education, in 1939. Her case rose in the shadow of the United States Supreme Court’s better-known Lloyd Gaines decision. The school’s first dean and patriarch, Walter Williams, called for reporters to battle injustice and to remain objective in “The Journalist’s Creed.” This conflicted with coverage of the Bluford case.
Hispanics, Blacks, and Asian Americans in Time Magazine Advertisements: Separation, Role Prominence, and Schema-Consistent Portrayals • Tiffani Thomas, Hong Cheng and Anne Cooper-Chen, Ohio University • Based on schema/expectancy theory, ingroup bias theory, and Hallin’s theory of boundaries, minority models portrayed in groups in Time magazine advertisements from 1995 to 2004 were content-analyzed. While Hispanic, Black, and Asian American models—most of them portrayed as non-professionals—had more prominent roles than in the past, little interaction was found between them and others in ads.
Hispanic and Anglo Other-Person Perceptions of Spanish Language Messages in the U.S. • Don Umphrey, Southern Methodist University • A sample of both Hispanics and Anglos judged the effects of two advertisements on themselves, each other and on Hispanic teens, African-Americans, the wealthy, and those with low levels of education. One of the messages supported the English Language Unity Act and the other was a Spanish-language advertisement for a dishwashing detergent. Hispanic concerns about the effect of the unity act ad on others were often tied to ethnic identifications and to fears of discrimination. Divided Anglo attitudes seemed to reflect either pro- or anti-Hispanic sentiments.
Student
The Columbia Summer Program Graduates: Where Are They Now? • Mary Alice Basconi, East Tennessee State University • Graduates of Columbia School of Journalism’s summer program for minority journalists have achieved prominence in news media, yet little is known about them as a group. This survey of 52 percent of the graduates (N=110) showed respondents averaged 17.6 years in journalism. Thirty percent spent thirty years or more in news, and nearly 24 percent had worked in the ethnic press. The program, created by broadcast pioneer Fred W. Friendly, operated from 1968 to 1974.
Black Representation during Washington’s Drug Scare of 1986: A Case Study in Contemporary Trends in Ethnic and General Circulation Newspaper Coverage • Natalie Hopkinson, University of Maryland-College Park • Comparative analysis of a mainstream daily newspaper and a black weekly’s coverage of Black Washington and the attendant drug crisis of 1986 and the so-called “War on Drugs.” Regardless of their audience, journalists failed to resist government-authored narratives about public health risks.
Framing Katrina in black and white: New and discussion boards in the Chicago Defender and the Minneapolis Star Tribune • Yeon Kyeong Kim, University of Iowa • This study examined how the Chicago Defender (CD) and the Minneapolis Star Tribune (ST) websites framed local news coverage of Katrina, as well as how the news frame were reflected on the publications’ online discussion boards. The results showed that CD had a “minority” perspective, while ST framed victims more like “others.” Examination of CD and ST discussion boards suggest that issues ignored in the papers’ local news coverage were also ignored in the discourse.
Western Media Meets Eastern Tradition: Examining the Views of Chinese-American Women on Beauty • Jennifer Lemanski, University of Florida • This study utilized in-depth interviews with Chinese-American women, prompted with mass media images of both Chinese and Western celebrities, in order to better understand their perspectives and views on beauty. Five major themes emerged: Health/Energy, Natural, Comfort/Closeness, Personality/Wholesomeness, and Chinese and Western Appearance Differences. Analysis indicated that although Western media images have an impact on the way Chinese-American women view beauty, the traditional Chinese attitudes on beauty remain highly influential.
Social Capital, Media Use and Linguistic Acculturation • Misti McDaniel, Louisiana State University • The Hispanic population is the largest minority community in the United States. Only a fraction, however, voted in the last presidential election and overall political participation in the community lags behind other ethnic groups. Previous research indicates societies with high levels of social capital are more politically engaged. Media use and linguistic acculturation have been previously tied to the development of social capital in immigrant communities.
Personal Contact with Minorities and Satisfaction with Mass Media Coverage of Minorities In Reducing Ethnic Stereotypes • Ming Wang, Washington State University • This study tries to find whether personal contact with minorities and satisfaction with mass media coverage of minorities can reduce people’s ethnic stereotypes. The results show that those who had direct contact with Asians in the community where they grew up had more negative stereotypes than those who did not have direct contact in those community where they grew up. Satisfaction with media coverage of Arabs doesn’t affect people’s stereotypes of Arabs.
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